Reflection 11th February 2018
By Kevin Pringle
Readings
2 Kings 5: 1-14 Psalm 30 1 Cor 9: 24-27 Mark 1: 40-45
Unexpected Outcomes
For this Reflection, I have done something that I don’t usually do. I’ve given it a title:- “Unexpected Outcomes”.
Our 1st reading concerns the prophet Elisha, shortly after he literally took up Elijah’s cloak and ministry. As far as I can gather, Joram, Ahab’s younger son, had just become King of Israel after the death of his older brother. I find it interesting that he is not mentioned by name in today’s reading. Nor, in fact, is “the King of Aram”. The story is full of unexpected twists and turns. An unnamed young Israelite slave girl, the lowest of the low in that society, influencing one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. Elisha not deigning to actually meet Naaman initially. Naaman’s fury at this snub and his healing, when he does decide to do what he is told, are about the only parts of this story that arenot unexpected. Eventually, after persuasion from his servants, Naaman decides to follow the instructions he was given, which results in his healing. It is worthwhile reading on to see what happens later in this chapter. Also, given that Naaman almost certainly reported back to the King after his trip to Israel, it is interesting toreflect on the flat learning curve of the King of Aram in the next few chapters.
On to the Psalm. There is some controversy as to the subtitle of Psalm 30. In my bible, it says “For the dedication of the temple. Of David”. But, the temple wasn’t built until after David’s death. Some scholars suggest that the dedication was for David’s palace. I quite like the thought that David’s faith was such that he could write something for the dedication of the Temple. That said, this Psalm brilliantly encapsulates the ups and downs of the human condition. With David’s determination to praise God and his plea for help being met by an unexpected (and, I would submit, like us, undeserved) turning of his wailing into dancing and his sackcloth into clothes of joy.
As for the reading from 1 Corinthians, I find this really unsettling. Paul uses analogies that we are all familiar with, even today. Even in modern sport, except in some schools where they choose not to introduce some of the fundamental lessons of life, there is only 1 winner. In the original Olympic Games as in the modern version, there was only 1 First Place. In the modern Games, the reward is a gold medal, rather than the ancient laurel wreath, with silver and bronze medals being more or less consolation prizes.Paul emphasises the need for discipline in order to win the prize. None of this is unexpected. What is unexpected, however, is Paul’s concern that he may somehow fail to attain the prize. If he doesn’t make it, what hope have I got? None, except by God’s amazing grace.
So, then, on to our reading from Mark. There are a couple of things that stand out right from the beginning of this story. The first is the Leper’s persistent disobedience. Lepers were meant to stay away from everyone else and not risk passing their disease on to others. This man had to have pushed his way through the crowd around Jesus to get close enough to him to persistently and insistently ask for healing. Yes, he did fall on his knees, but he broke every rule about leprosy to get to that point. Now, we do need to understand the plight of the leper. Lepers were excluded from every part of normal society. They had to leave their friends and families. They had to live outside the towns and couldn’t attend the synagogue or the temple. As I interpret Leviticus Chapters 13-15, anyone who touched them was considered unclean at least until evening.In his desperation, the leper’s request is almost a challenge:- “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”There is some debate in the commentaries as to the nature of Jesus’ emotional response. This is due to 2 different Greek words being used in the ancient manuscripts. One is translated “being angry” and the other “having pity”. I must admit that I prefer the latter, although a genuine case can be made for the concept that Jesus was angry at theresult of the rules around leprosy and the effect that these had on the individual.
All that aside, Jesus’ response was to himself break the rules and reach out and touch the man and heal him.That’s not too unexpected. What follows, however, is. Jesus dismisses the man, demanding (not too strong a word), demanding that he tell no-one about his healing and go and show himself to the priests and make the appropriate sacrifices to affirm his healing. In the original Greek, there is a hint of anger in this passage.Again, the commentaries I read suggest that this anger was directed not at the leper, but at the “System”:- the rules that had marginalisedhim.
The man’s response is certainly unexpected. Rather than doing what Jesus said to do, he flagrantly disobeys Him. He goes out and publicises his healing. I’m sure that he did this with the best of intentions. The fact that Jesus could heal leprosy neededto be made known. There is an unexpected outcome from this disobedience:- one of those instances demonstrating the Law of Unexpected Consequences, where a given action, carried out with the best of intentions has other consequences.These tend to be referred to as serendipity if they are positive.However, we tend to remember the detrimental outcomes more often. Witness the terrible consequences of introducing Possums to develop a fur trade, or the consequences of the “old lady who swallowed a fly” sequence of introducing ferrets and stoats to control the burgeoning rabbit population. In this case, Jesus was marginalised:- unable to enter the towns in that region for fear of being mobbed. I’m sure that Jesus foresaw the consequences of His healing the leper.In spite of that, He healed him anyway! How often, however, do we fail to follow the leadings we get from Jesus? When we fail to follow God’s leading, there are almost always consequences. Not always as direct and personal as was the case for Jonah, but possibly having longer-term consequences:- the type of consequence that Paul was concerned about. I know that I routinely struggle to hear God’s “still, small voice”.As I said before, if Paul was concerned that he might fail to attain the prize, I have to have significant concerns about my long-term (my eternal) future. All too often, I’m not sure if I am following the correct leading. The only hope that I have however, is summed up in the last stanza of the hymn we just sang:-
No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine. Alive in Him, my living head, And clothed in righteousness divine:- Bold I approach the eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.